Solar cells with 11% efficiency on ribbon-growth-on-substrate (RGS) silicon

Hahn, Giso; Zechner, Christoph; Bitnar, Bernd; Spiegel, M.; Jooss, W.; Fath, P.; Willeke, Gerd; Bücher, E.; Höfs, Hans-Ulrich

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-159x(199805/06)6:3<163::aid-pip219>3.0.co;2-h

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The only limitation is that the temperature load is limited due to possible in-diffusion of metals from the front metallization into the emitter, which results in shunt formation. This limits hydrogenation to temperatures of <450 • C and durations of ∼1 h (dependent on temperature [163]). This restriction can be overcome if hydrogenation is applied prior to contact formation [164].…”

Section: Laboratory-type and Industrial-type Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

New crystalline silicon ribbon materials for photovoltaics

Hahn

Schönecker

2004

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objective of this article is to review, in relation to photovoltaic applications, the current status of crystalline silicon ribbon technologies as an alternative to technologies based on wafers originating from ingots. Increased wafer demand, the foreseeable silicon feedstock shortage, and the need for a substantial module cost reduction are the main issues that must be faced in the booming photovoltaic market. Ribbon technologies make excellent use of silicon, as wafers are crystallized directly from the melt at the desired thickness and no kerf losses occur. Therefore, they offer a high potential for significantly reducing photovoltaic electricity costs as compared to technology based on wafers cut from ingots. However, the defect structure present in the ribbon silicon wafers can limit material quality and cell efficiency. We will review the most successful of the ribbon techniques already used in large scale production or currently in the pilot demonstration phase, with special emphasis on the defects incorporated during crystal growth. Because of the inhomogeneous distribution of defects, mapped characterization techniques have to be applied. Al and P gettering studies give an insight into the complex interaction of defects in the multicrystalline materials as the gettering efficiency is influenced by the state of the chemical bonding of the metal atoms. The most important technique for improvement of carrier lifetimes is hydrogenation, whose kinetics are strongly influenced by oxygen and carbon concentrations present in the material. The best cell efficiencies for laboratory-type (17%-18%; cell area: 4 cm 2) as well as industrial-type (15%-16%; cell area: 80 cm 2) ribbon silicon solar cells are in the same range as for standard wafers cut from ingots. A substantial cost reduction therefore seems achievable, although the most promising techniques need to be improved.

show abstract

Section: Laboratory-type and Industrial-type Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

New crystalline silicon ribbon materials for photovoltaics

Hahn

Schönecker

2004

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1(b), we focus on the silicon melt flow and solidification dynamics after the silicon flow has exited the casting chamber, which is assumed to be of uniform properties at the exit plane of the casting chamber (which now is the inlet plane of our computational domain). Under most RGS conditions, the solidified wafer thickness tends to be about 300-350 mm and the solar cell size ranges from 20 to 50 mm [6]. Therefore, we select the computational domain of 100 mm in length and 1 mm in thickness as shown Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Combined with semiconductor use of polycrystalline silicon, the demand for photovoltaic silicon is expected to outpace the supply in the next several years, placing high emphasis on optimizing the use of available material [2]. In this regard, two production methods of the silicon wafer for solar cell, such as horizontal ribbon growth and vertical ribbon growth, have been investigated and reviewed by many researchers [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10], just to include a few among many. In particular, ribbon growth on substrate (RGS) methods has been studied since its inception in the late 1990s [3], and are very promising due to its high speed of production at low manufacturing costs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational simulations of Ribbon-Growth on substrate for photovoltaic silicon wafer

Jeong

Chung

Lee

2010

Journal of Crystal Growth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…But the RGS process has the crystallization of silicon films on one side of a ribbon. This RGS production technique has been introduced by many of researchers [2][3][4][5] and this study applied it. This RGS silicon wafer manufacturing technology is a very promising high speed wafer production technique and the effective production of silicon wafers at low manufacturing costs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The optimum solidification and crucible rotation in silicon czochralski crystal growth

Jeong

Lee

et al. 2010

J Mech Sci Technol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Silicon crystallization is very important in many industrial processes, and it is desirable that maker should have a low cost manufacturing and high efficiency for producing semiconductors. One semiconductor process is the Czochralski (CZ) silicon melt flow and this CZ process has an excellent manufacturing feature and is utilized for silicon solidification. But CZ silicon melt flow is very complicated and this defect can be erased by the numerical analysis of the melt flow. In this paper, the optimum solidification conditions were shown for crucible rotation. This is because the solidification conditions depend on crucible rotation under the cooling process and the solidification conditions were investigated on heat generation rate on crucible wall and rotation by using numerical analysis. For the numerical validations, we verified with experimental data and showed good agreement with current numerical results. The solidification regions are classified with crystal rotation and crucible rotation. For the heat generation rate, qw, the optimum heat generation rate was estimated for 20 W/cm2 and when crystal rotation and crucible rotation is 5 rpm, the maximum solidification length can be obtained and has a stable solidification.

show abstract

Solar cells with 11% efficiency on ribbon-growth-on-substrate (RGS) silicon

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

New crystalline silicon ribbon materials for photovoltaics

New crystalline silicon ribbon materials for photovoltaics

Computational simulations of Ribbon-Growth on substrate for photovoltaic silicon wafer

The optimum solidification and crucible rotation in silicon czochralski crystal growth

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About